As editor of a magazine that speaks to the whole church, I feel compelled to speak to friends of various convictions — while allowing all others to overhear the conversation. Two weeks ago I began with the group that has most nurtured my faith: conservative-evangelicals. Last week, I wrote to those who have broadened my vision: liberal-progressives. This week, I address those who have grounded my churchmanship, centrist-ecclesiasts.
This is what people from the Gulf Coast tell Linda Gebetsberger, a pastor from Oregon, every time she heads home. “Let them know that we still need help.”
LOUISVILLE — Four top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have sent a letter to all of the denomination’s congregations asking them to pray for those affected by the shootings in a Knoxville, Tenn., church on July 27.
Many elders, deacons, and pastors are less than pleased when the subject of the annual stewardship campaign comes up. In many churches the activities that make up this campaign are the only time the majority of members hear the term stewardship and it is often one of the few times they hear money and faith linked in worship.
Websites that might be helpful:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) resources for annual campaigns stewardship in general and stewardship education. Either: The Stewardship Manual PDS #72530-94-001 or Confident Steward 2.0 – an interactive CD
Stewardship season is coming. For most congregations it’s akin to getting a flu shot. Each autumn we volunteer reluctantly to be pricked in the body’s nether regions hoping all the while to be protected against further exposure for another year. It’s no surprise, then, that so many pastors speak reluctantly, if at all, on the topics of money and generosity.
Does your church play favorites?
Do you give some members special treatment while ignoring others?
Many pastors look at stewardship as being repetitious and, frankly, less then exciting. Unfortunately, many pastors become extremely uncomfortable regarding the subject of money and giving. They view what seems like endless urgent appeals as a chore and not as an opportunity for their members to grow in their faith. Yet we know that pursuing mission requires financial support. A familiar quote says, “Ever since its invention by the Phoenicians 3,000 years ago, there has been a wonderful way of saying ‘thank you,’ it is called money.”
For the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to move into God’s future, it must let go of its carefully stacked layers of church bureaucracy. For years now, the stacked layers have been in danger of crumbling/imploding on each other, weighed down as they are by years of history and unrealizable expectations—not to mention the dancing elephants.
To be healthy, not every church needs a demographically correct suburban location, a 30-something pastor with 20 years of flawless experience, a denomination free of bickering and embarrassment, a pot of gold, and a doctrinal package so compelling that God himself applauds.
“It is not about getting the world into the church, it is about getting the church into the world,” said Rob Weingartner to the closing session of the third annual PGF Inside Out Conference that concluded Saturday (August 16.) Throughout the three-day conference in Long Beach, California, that sentiment was intertwined with a question explored in the Friday night session, “Can We Be Faithful in the PC(USA)?”
The Presbyterian Global Fellowship’s third annual conference, “Inside Out,” began in Long Beach, California on Thursday evening. 
While a praise band filled the room with U2’s “Beautiful Day,” close to 1000 conference attendees from 34 states and 4 continents filed into the event’s opening session.
After half an hour of praise and worship music led by the Bel Air Praise Band, PGF Executive Director Kelly Kannwisher welcomed the attendees to the conference.
LOUISVILLE — As the conflict in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia continues, Gradye Parsons, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has joined with Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America (RCA), in sending a letter of concern and solidarity to church partners in Georgia and Russia.
LOUISVILLE — Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is supporting humanitarian relief efforts to help refugees and those displaced by fighting in the embattled former Soviet republic of Georgia.
Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) has just been told by his physician that he has a rare, terminal disease. He seems healthy, and isn’t exhibiting any particular symptoms, but if he wasn’t depressed before, he sure is now.
LOUISVILLE — Janet Edwards, a Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh, is headed back to church court later this year for conducting a marriage ceremony for two women even though charges against her for performing the nuptials were dismissed in 2006.
SAN FRANCISCO — In just a few weeks since the end of the218th General Assembly, it is safe to say that serving as moderator already has been an incredibly meaningful experience.
LOUISVILLE — (PNS) The Form of Government Task Force (FOGTF), expanded in size and loaded with comments from this year’s General Assembly, is scheduled to meet for the first time since the 218th General Assembly adjourned in June to begin revising the original task force’s report.
LOUISVILLE — Sue Mooney, parish nurse for Overbrook Church in Columbus, Ohio, has been named recipient of the 2008 Elise Stutzer Award in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s health ministries.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed civil fraud charges against Stanley W. Anderson, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) elder from Colorado who made a dramatic pledge of $150 million to the denomination at the 2006 General Assembly.
NEW YORK — The patriarchs of the Russian and Georgian Orthodox churches have issued calls for peace as military conflict between Russia and Georgia over the pro-Russian separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia escalated into the first war between countries with Orthodox Christian majorities in modern history.
GENEVA — Two global bodies grouping Protestant Christians — the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council (DECC) — say they are looking to establish a closer relationship.
Members of St. Andrews Church in Kilmarnock, Va., took off for the Gulf Coast on August 12 for a trip of more than 1,000 miles to deliver a shower trailer to Olive Tree Volunteer Village, a hurricane relief camp supported by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) near New Orleans, La.
LOUISVILLE – (PNS) Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission leaders are asking the church to help them identify qualified candidates for international mission service.
BANGALORE, INDIA — Pictures on the Internet depicting Jesus smoking a cigarette and holding what appears to be a can of beer have caused repeated trouble for media in Asia in recent months.
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